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Monday, 5 November 2012

Is Europe planning to dump hazardous ships in South Asia?

The European Environment Council
meeting in Luxembourg in late October has seen environmentalists applauding
progressive EU governments like Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark,
Italy, Ireland, Estonia, and Sweden for supporting the existing ban on the
export of end-of-life ships containing hazardous wastes to developing
countries. All this at a time when Europe seems to be contemplating taking
retrograde steps in recent months, with some States having succeeded in pushing
a European Union proposal on ship recycling that would effectively legalise the
export of end-of-life ships containing hazardous wastes to countries in South
Asia.

"The proposal is both
profoundly immoral and illegal," Roberto Ferrigno of the NGO Shipbreaking
Platform had said earlier. “This will render European governments powerless in
preventing exports of asbestos and PCB laden ships from being sent to
developing countries and putting vulnerable workers at risk in contravention of
our own treaty obligations. We are calling on the EU, which has the capacity to
recycle ships safely and cleanly, to respect its laws and create good shipyard
jobs at home."

The Iron Steel Scrap &
Shipbreakers' Association of India (ISSAI) was also severely critical of the
proposal, saying that it went against the Basel convention and that 'India
should strongly oppose the proposed EU Regulations on export of ships for
recycling. Our permanent stand is that all hazardous waste which are not
required for the final voyage should be removed before sending ships for
recycling as we cannot accept dumping of hazardous waste in the country.
Instead of making amendment to allow ships to be exported for recycling by
removing hazardous materials not required for final voyage, EU is only making a
show by introducing this article but the same loophole persists."

The ban on
the export of end-of-life ships containing hazardous wastes has been part of
the 2006 Waste Shipment Regulations in Europe. Any hazardous ship is not
supposed to leave a EU port for shipbreaking in non-OECD countries. The famous
case of the French aircraft carrier “Le Clémenceau” comes to mind; she was
returned to France after she was slated to be beached in India with hazardous
wastes aboard.

Figures
indicate that more than 200 European ships- most flagged outside the EU- were
sent to South Asia for demolition last year. Many contain hazardous materials
such as asbestos, mineral oil, PCBs, mercury, etc. With demolition activity spiking
substantially this year, too little is known about the amounts of wastes piling
up on the shores and ‘sickening’ the workers and nearby communities, a
prominent environmental group says. A 2006 Indian Supreme Court backed study
said that 16% of shipbreaking workers showed symptoms of asbestosis.

Political
will to solve the problem is “manifestly absent”, said the European Economic
and Social Committee earlier this year, adding that the EC proposal was “weak
and full of legal loopholes.” Critics allege that the EU Ministers are copping
out when they claim that the current ban is too easily circumvented by
shipowners- the problem is more a failure of enforcement of regulations, they
point out.

“Currently, the combined capacity of ship
recycling facilities located in OECD countries would be enough to properly
recycle most of EU-flagged and EU-owned ships,” said Patrizia
Heidegger, Director of ‘Shipbreaking Platform’. “Instead
of scrapping the EU ban on hazardous wastes exports to developing countries,
the EU should promote green ship recycling at home.”.